At Death's Door
by Merlinfan26
Summary: It's a few weeks after Maeve's death. Reid is stil struggling with the loss. So much so that he overdoses on diluad. Morgan is the one to find him, and save his life. As the team waits for Reid to wake from his coma, Hotch fights HQ for Reid to keep his job. As they wait they realize the road to recovery might not be easy for Spense Reid. If he ever wakes up, that is.


**I haven't written a Criminal Minds fic in a really long time. So I hope i have the characters down! I just couldn't let go of this story.**

**Prologue**

It had been a few weeks since Maeve had passed. Reid had returned to work, but he was never totally the same. There was a constant sense of lingering sadness about him that wasn't there before. The whole team was worried about him. Garcia called him constantly, and JJ kept on inviting him to family nights with Will and Henry. Morgan took him out to bars so he wouldn't be alone.

There was something he wasn't telling the team, though. Soon his craving for diluadid started to return. It returned the night Maeve was shot. When he laid there in his bed he wanted to die also. But mainly, he wanted the pain to stop. The pain that kept on coming back. He remembered that pain all too wellw hen he thought Emily had died.

This time the pain was intensified.

It just was't fair. The one time he found love, it was killed in front of him. The one time he found someone who could love him, for _him _and she got taken away from him! He hugged her book as he thought of their phone conversations. As he memorized the sound of her voice. He kept on redialing her phoen number just so he could hear her voice on the answering machine one last time.

Finally he couldn't handle it. He remembered the bottled drug that he kept locked in his cabnit, just in case, in his bathroom. He got up to use it. One littl poke, and the pain would vanish. He would get some sleep, and the pain would finally stop.

* * *

><p>Morgan knocked at the door. He was worried. Reid was supposed to meet him at the bar at 10:00. He knew Reid never liked that kind of place, but he had to keep the kid's mind off of Maeve, and what had happened to her. He shook his head when he thought about it. That kid sure had shitty, rotten luck.<p>

It wasn't like Reid to forget, though. Morgan began to worry about Reid's mental state.

"Reid? It's me, Morgan. You were late, so I thought I'd stop by to pick you up. You're not getting out of this, this easy."

Silence. Morgan knew that Reid was an extremely light sleeper, so the lack of response frightened him.

"Reid, if you don't knock back, or respond I'm busting in!"

More silence.

Then Morgan busted the door down. Fear enveloped him sa he had a very bad feeling about everything.

"Reid?!" He saw a light in the bathroom, and hurried over there. The next thing he saw would haunt him forever. He kicked the door open and there laid Reid. Reid was sprawled out on the floor, lifeless, with foam coming out of his mouth.

"No, no, no!" Morgan saw the needle stuck in the kids arm. "Reid!" All reason flew out the window as he ran to his best friend, to his brother,. He began to do cpr on Reid's chest.

"Come on, kid, don't do this to me! Don't leave us! Not now!" Unashamed tears ran down Morgan's face as he pushed Reid's chest. Suddenly Reid started to cough, as foam continued to trickle down his mouth. Morgan grabbed his body into a hug and tried to brush the foam away as he fumbled for his cell phone.

"Hang on, kid!" He saw Reid's eyes flutter open, and then close.

"M...m..."Reid stammed.

"Dont' talk kid. Yes, I'd like to report an emergency. My friend just overdosed on a drug, and I had to do cpr to revive him-" Morgan's voice shook as he rattled off the important imformation.

"M...mor...ma..."Reid struggled to speak.

"It's okay, Reid, it's gonna be okay." More tears fell. And then suddenly Reid went into seizure mode. Morgan held the kid's body down as Reid's body flopped up and down, and tried to fling itself everywhere.

"Hang in there, kid, helps coming,. I need you to fight for me, okay, Reid?" Morgan began to , after what seemed like forever, the paramedics arrived. Morgan climbed back into the ambulaence as they began what was about to be his longest night ever.

After a few hours of them controlling Reid's seizures, and pumping his stomach Morgan picked up the phone to call Garcia. It was 2 am now, but the rest of the team would want to know.

He paced as he called.

"Hey chocolate thunder, why are you calling so late? Do you want a booty call?" Garcia's playful voice answered. Morgan closed his eyes. She was just so damned peacefully unaware of it all...He didn't want to tell, but knew that he had to.

"Garcia, don't. It's not that kind of call. This is serious." He could almost feel Garcia sitting up, sharply, in bed.

"What is it, Morgan?"

"Penolope.."

There was a sharp intake in her breath.

"You hardly ever call me Penelope...Derek, what's going on? What's wrong?"

"I'm at the hospital.."

"Oh, God!" There was genuine fear in her voice.

"I'm all right, babygirl," he assured her. "But it's Reid..."

"No..."More panic filled her. He could hear it. "No, not Reid...what happened, Morgan?" There were tears in her voice, now

"He's alive, babygirl,it's just he od'd on diluadid..."

"NO! Morgan, oh God, not that! Please no-"

"They had to pump his stomach. I had to do cpr on him...he was almost dead when I found him. He's in a temporary coma-"

There was crying now. The real, deep, kind of crying.

"Garcia, they're asking for me, i have to go. But I need you to tell the rest of the team-"

"I'm already on it," Garcia managed to gasp.

"And...I need you to tell Hotch to fight the bosses so Reid can keep his job. I don't think Reid could handle another shock."

"Got it...and what about you?"

"What about me?" Morgan looked confused.

"Don't you need anyone?"

"No, I'll be here until Reid wakes up. Once the team konws they should come, too. But until then, I'm fine where I'm at."

"Liar." Garcia wasn't going to hang up until he told the truth.

"All right, I'm scared shitless, you happy? There was foam coming out of his mouth and _everything, _Garcia. When he had a seizure I had to hold him down. And I felt his body flop back and forth like a dying fish. I just...it scared the shit out of me, okay?"

"That's better." Garcia's voice was soft. "After I tell the team I'm also going over there, and not just for Spencer. But for you, too."

"I don't deserve your company, Garcia..."

"What do you mean?"

"I should have known better. I should have stayed over,like I did for you when you were in danger. I should have..."Morgan cleared his throat, and forced himself to gain could not afford to lose it now.

"Derek Morgan," Garcia replied in an angry tone. "You are not to blame for this. No one is, not even Reid. ESPECIALLY not Reid. If you want to blame anyone, blame that girl that killed Mauve, or even Tobias who gave Reid the drug in the first place."

Morgan opened his mouth, but Garcia continued before he could protest.

"Don't argue with me, mister. You know that I'm right. Reid would be dead right now, if it weren't for you. Now I've already texted JJ about meeting at the BAU building. I'm going to tell them what happened, and we'll all come. You won't be alone during this. And neither will Reid. If you're going to wait in the hospital until he wakes up, then I'll wait with you also. So you won't be I won't take no for an answer."

Morgan sighed. When she used that tone of voice, he knew better than to argue,

"All right babygirl, you know best. You always do."

"Of course I do," quipped Garcia. "After all, I'm the smart one in this relationship. You're just the trophy husband."

Morgan gave a soft laugh. Garcia always knew how to make him feel better. When they hung up Derek went to the bathroom to gain control over his emotions.

He wiped away a tear from his tired looking eyes.

"Pull it together, man," he growled at himself. "Reid's gonna need you now more than ever."

He splashed cold water on his face and then went back to the kid's room. There Reid laid, his body covered with warm shieets. The heart montier beeped softly next to him. The oxygen mask laid over his face which was deathly pale. He looked so skinny, and ghostly white it scared Morgan.

He had a feeling Reid's fight for his life had just before. And Morgan made a promise right then and there to stay by Reid's side through it all, no matter what.

"I promise you,kid." He held Reid's hand. "I'm not going anywhere. You won't ever be alone again." And with that he sank into a chair next to the young man and waited for the longest night to be over.

**I know the ending was kind of crappy, but i hope it was okay! And i hope Morgan and Garcia were in character! Especially Garcia! **


End file.
